{"id":70289,"date":"2020-02-17T16:49:46","date_gmt":"2020-02-17T14:49:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=70289"},"modified":"2023-09-14T14:17:58","modified_gmt":"2023-09-14T11:17:58","slug":"of-false-prophets-and-unfulfilled-prophecies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/of-false-prophets-and-unfulfilled-prophecies\/","title":{"rendered":"Of False Prophets And Unfulfilled Prophecies"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[361,506,463],"acf":{"old_id":"70289","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":70197,"related_cahpter":"418","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"It\u2019s all in the grammar...","content":"

\u2026I may decree that a nation or a kingdom shall be \u2026destroyed; but if that nation\u2026turns back from its wickedness, I change My mind concerning the punishment I planned… At another moment, I may decree that a nation or a kingdom shall be built and planted; but if it \u2026does not obey Me, then I change My mind concerning the good I planned to bestow upon it<\/span> (verses 7-10).<\/span><\/p>\n

The implications of these verses for the process of authenticating prophets have prompted considerable Rabbinic discussion. On the one hand, we read: \u201cIf the prophet shall speak in the name of God and that thing will not be or come about\u2026God has not spoken\u2026you shall not fear him\u201d (Deut. 18). Yet Jeremiah\u2019s words in this passage seem to undermine the veracity of this prophetic litmus test, since God is prepared to revoke a prophecy should people alter their behavior.<\/span><\/p>\n

In his introduction to the Book of <\/span>Haggai<\/span>, Malbim grapples with unfulfilled prophecies which predicted the imminent onset of a Messianic era in the early Second Temple period. Malbim cites Midrashic sources that such prophecies were not intended as definitive statements of future events, rather they were contingent upon the righteous conduct of the nation in that era. Malbim\u2019s solution appears to be borne out by Jeremiah\u2019s statement that \u201cBut if it [then] does what is evil in My eyes, disobeys My voice, then I will retract the good which I had said to bestow upon it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This approach is emphatically rejected however by Maimonides, who writes that no positive prophecy is ever withdrawn (Hilchot Yesodei Hatorah<\/em> 10:4). Maimonides argues that, were prophecy to be subject to change, this would disqualify the authentication of a prophet which is premised on the accuracy of his or her predictions. This is the case when Jeremiah condemns a putative prophet, Chananiah ben Azzur, as false on the basis of an inaccurate positive prediction (chap. 28).<\/span><\/p>\n

Rabbi Yehudah Loew (Maharal) proposes an original solution, separating prophecies into two distinct categories: promises of what will transpire should the recipients be found deserving, and definitive statements of an irrevocable divine decision. Detecting which mode of prophecy is being transmitted requires a close reading of the biblical text. A prophecy presented in the future tense signifies that the prediction is contingent upon the worthiness of those involved. This form of future-tense promise is the subject of the revocable prophecy disclosed by Jeremiah in this chapter. Other prophecies, by contrast, employ \u201cprophetic past tense\u201d, to indicate an unalterable and sealed divine decision. It is such a past-tense prophetic declaration that leads Jeremiah to impugn the credibility of Chananiah ben Azzur (\u201cI <\/span>have<\/span><\/em> broken the yoke of the king of Babylon\u201d).<\/span><\/p>\n

This subtle grammatical distinction holds the key to explaining surprising reactions by prophets to God\u2019s word throughout the biblical texts; most notably the sudden dissipation of prior doubts exhibited by Abraham (Covenant of the Parts) and Moses (Burning Bush) once future-tense contingent promises are replaced by past-tense prophetic statements of certainty.<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: John Singer Sargent: Frieze of the Prophets, c 1892, MFA-Boston \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":70290,"id":70290,"title":"jer18-John_Singer_Sargent_-_Frieze_of_the_Prophets","filename":"jer18-John_Singer_Sargent_-_Frieze_of_the_Prophets.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer18-John_Singer_Sargent_-_Frieze_of_the_Prophets.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/of-false-prophets-and-unfulfilled-prophecies\/jer18-john_singer_sargent_-_frieze_of_the_prophets\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jer18-john_singer_sargent_-_frieze_of_the_prophets","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":70289,"date":"2020-02-17 14:49:23","modified":"2023-11-13 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